The 1939 version emphasized romance, the 1959 version emphasized horror. Holmes would probably complain that both gave short shrift to detection and deductive reasoning.
Love this movie. It has some eerie parts to it which makes me prefer it over the Hammer version. It was the first film version of Sherlock Holmes that has a Victorian setting. The film versions up to this one were all contemporary to the time the movie was made. Rathbone and Bruce were so good in these roles, they went right into a sequel, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" also produced at Fox. And then, began their long run playing Holmes and Watson on radio. And, of course, a few years later staring as the pair in one of the best B movie series produced at Universal throughout the 1940s. Which started out set in the present in war torn Britain, and then sort of shifting to a post war world that evokes Victorian England. Starting with Nigel Bruce, in all following Holmes and Watson movies, the actor playing Watson now gets second billing after the actor playing Holmes. There seems to be a pattern that actors who are famous as villains in A movies, like Karloff, Warner Orland, and Peter Lorrie, would be cast as heroes in B movie series. If you get a chance, catch "Frenchman's Creek"(1944), with Joan Fontaine, has Rathbone and Bruce as the villains. Finally, as much as I like "The Scarlet Claw", and "The Pearl of Death" my favorite Rathbone and Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie is "The Voice of Terror".
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I like the way Robin Hood got top billing.
The 1939 version emphasized romance, the 1959 version emphasized horror. Holmes would probably complain that both gave short shrift to detection and deductive reasoning.
This is a good film. And Basil Rathbone is the best Holmes. Or, was. Jeremy Brett was darn good in the British TV series. Call it a tie.
Richard Greene was pretty bland, but Basil had been such a great villain it must have been hard for moviegoers to get used to him as the hero.
Good one Evan. I haven't seen a Rathbone or Brett Holmes I didn't like, though some are certainly better then others.
Like you say, it was difficult to get used to Rathbone as a hero, but he had a fine run as Sherlock Holmes.
Love this movie. It has some eerie parts to it which makes me prefer it over the Hammer version. It was the first film version of Sherlock Holmes that has a Victorian setting. The film versions up to this one were all contemporary to the time the movie was made. Rathbone and Bruce were so good in these roles, they went right into a sequel, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" also produced at Fox. And then, began their long run playing Holmes and Watson on radio. And, of course, a few years later staring as the pair in one of the best B movie series produced at Universal throughout the 1940s. Which started out set in the present in war torn Britain, and then sort of shifting to a post war world that evokes Victorian England. Starting with Nigel Bruce, in all following Holmes and Watson movies, the actor playing Watson now gets second billing after the actor playing Holmes.
There seems to be a pattern that actors who are famous as villains in A movies, like Karloff, Warner Orland, and Peter Lorrie, would be cast as heroes in B movie series. If you get a chance, catch "Frenchman's Creek"(1944), with Joan Fontaine, has Rathbone and Bruce as the villains.
Finally, as much as I like "The Scarlet Claw", and "The Pearl of Death" my favorite Rathbone and Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie is "The Voice of Terror".
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